


Sensitised

by ScribbleWillow (Soul_in_the_Starlight)



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-21
Updated: 2012-07-21
Packaged: 2017-11-10 10:30:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/465278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soul_in_the_Starlight/pseuds/ScribbleWillow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a fudged landing, the Doctor takes Amy somewhere nice by way of apology... It doesn't quite work out how he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in February 2010, before Series 5 aired, surmising a few things, based off the series trailer.

Amy flung the TARDIS door wide open, barging past an apologetic Doctor without a backward glance.  
  
He had been mid sentence, about to explain where he'd brought her to make amends, but she had flounced off indignantly, leaving him open-mouthed in the wake of her withering stare.  
  
He watched her stalking away from the ship, her sumptuous hair bouncing around her shoulders with each determined step. With a sigh, and sheepishly biting his lower lip, the Doctor started out after her. It was an uninhabited planet, but there were still a few indigenous life forms that could be unsettling to new eyes.  
  
"Amy, please wait, I'm _sorry_!" he called, long legs making huge strides to cover the distance his companion had put between them. He'd lost sight of her now, as the clearing they'd landed in was encircled with broad-leaved trees, just slightly taller than the pair of them. Pushing his way through, the Doctor finally found Amy, sitting on a fallen tree, arms folded, bottom lip pouting dangerously, though not unattractively.  
  
The Doctor tucked his hands into the back pockets of his trousers, pausing a moment before cautiously walking around to stand in front of her. She threw him a murderous glance before staring pointedly at some vague thing in the distance, behind his left shoulder.  
  
"It was _honestly_ a mistake. I'm a little bit hurt that you'd actually think I'd _deliberately_ put you in danger."   
  
Amy's gaze moved to settle on his face, which she could see was forming his best ‘wounded little boy’ expression. She stood up suddenly with a growl.  
  
"Don't you _dare_!" she scolded, causing his expression to change to slightly wary.  
  
"Don't you _dare_ make this about you! I was the one who stepped out into the middle of a burning building! I was the one who inhaled half of London!" Her voice was still slightly gravelly from the smoke inhalation, and she clutched at her chest, the smears of soot and smoke marring her pale hands and forearms. Her pretty face was also blighted by the ashes of an ancient city, two pale lines etched down her cheeks from recent tears.  
  
The Doctor removed his hands from his pockets, stepping forward, holding his arms out resignedly.  
  
"I really am sorry, Amy. Not one of my finest moments, letting you walk out into the Great Fire of London."  
  
Amy's face softened a little, she could see in his eyes that he was wracked with remorse. He'd plunged after her into the smoke as it blew back through the ship doors, but it had been so thick and dark that they'd both been disorientated. It had been mere seconds until his searching hands had found her and dragged her to safety, but it had felt like a lifetime to Amy. He'd carried her easily to the medibay, the TARDIS working it's magic on her traumatised lungs. But she'd been scared. Oh _so_ scared.  
  
"I promised to make it up to you, and I will. This is just the start," the Doctor stepped towards her, hands still held out, closing gently around her shoulders. Amy looked down at her dirty shoes and tights before allowing herself to sink into his embrace, her sooty tears leaving smudges on his shirt.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been early dawn on the planet when they arrived. The Doctor had eventually coaxed Amy back to the TARDIS to get cleaned up and changed, and the pair of them emerged freshly showered and clothed into the warm yellow sunlight of a summer morning.   
  
"I thought we'd head over to the falls," he called from the edge of the clearing, Amy stopping a few feet behind to fiddle with her damp hair. He'd insisted she leave it damp, and his own lay in moist tendrils around his face, making him look even younger.   
  
She sighed and gave up on her own hair, jogging to catch him up. They followed the path they’d taken on their arrival, but carried on past the fallen tree, in amiable silence, the Doctor letting Amy take in the beauty of the first proper alien flora she'd seen without interruption. He smiled as her soft gasps at the strange and succulent blooms became more frequent the further into the forest they went. He was seeing it for the first time with his own new eyes, but the memories kept his wonder in check.  
  
The soft rumbling of a waterfall was getting louder now, and after a few more steps, Amy's gasping gave way to an odd kind of squeaking as they stepped out of the forest in front of the falls.  
  
"It's known as 'The Chalice of Heaven,' announced the Doctor, taking childish delight in Amy's slack-jawed staring. They were stood near the edge of a large precipice, and down in the valley below them, a huge almost perfectly circular rock funnel rose up towards them, gigantic torrents of water roiling up from the middle to spill over in thunderous curtains of sparkling crystal clarity into the rocky surrounds. Hundreds of pools in the weathered rock shone like mirrors, reflecting the sunlight around the circular valley, the spray and sunbeams casting myriad rainbows as far as the eye could see.  
  
The Doctor walked back to where Amy stood, completely overwhelmed by the sight before her. He reached out and took her hand, pulling on it gently.  
  
"It's even better down there, the air is really cleansing, it'll make you feel so much better."  
  
Amy closed her mouth, a smile curving across her pink lips, her hair colour still catching fire in the sunlight, in spite of it’s dampness.  
  
"I don't think I've ever been anywhere so beautiful," her voice was little more than an awed whisper, her obvious delight giving the Doctor an odd fluttering sensation in his stomach.  
  
"I know, it's got to be up there in my top ten thousand at least," he remarked with a wink, as he led her towards a weather worn, steep curving path down into the valley below them.  
  
"Well, I could never see another planet, and _still_ live off the memory of this for the rest of my life," Amy replied, holding tight to his hand. The path was accessible, but not very wide. One careless move could easily prove fatal. Although, there were much worse ways to die; like in a fire...  
  
"Doctor!" Amy stopped, suddenly frozen by the memory of the choking black smoke, the distant screams of terror and the roar of the flames suddenly filling her ears. The Doctor turned, concern furrowing his brow as he saw the look of fear in her eyes.   
  
"Amy, I'm so sorry..." he moved up beside her, pulling her close.  
  
"This was a bad idea, the noise of the water... let's go back, I should be making you feel _safe_ , not frightening you again.”  
  
They climbed back up the path, having not got very far, the Doctor's arm around Amy's waist, putting himself between her and the edge of the path. Once they reached the safety of the summit again, he led her over to where they had a good view of the Chalice, and sat her down.   
  
Amy curled her knees up tight to her chest, hugging them to her and burying her face in her knees. The Doctor stepped back, feeling rather useless, and mentally kicking himself for being so stupid.   
  
He wandered around behind her for a while, taking out his frustration on clumps and hillocks in the grass with his boots, and silently mouthing curses in Gallifreyan.  
  
"What _are_ you doing?" Amy stood looking at him, arms folded, a quizzical eyebrow raised, and hands on her hips.  
  
Startled, he stopped mid kick, the momentum of his long leg having passed the point of no return; he fell, landing gracelessly in a heap.  
  
Amy rolled her eyes, her smile having now returned, and she walked over to him, holding out a hand. He squinted against the sun, which was now high in the sky directly above her, and took the slender hand. Amy decided that one wasn’t enough, and held out the other, which proved a mistake, as rather than allowing her to help him up, it allowed the Doctor to pull her over, landing her in a tangle of long limbs in the sweet smelling grass beside him.  
  
Amy laughed, he wasn’t someone you could stay mad at for long; he was like an overgrown child sometimes, and Amy was a fool for wide eyes and a pouty lip.  
  
The sun was warm, but not hot like the summer sun back on earth. She lay back in the grass, closing her eyes against it’s brightness, throwing an arm across her face to further shield her eyes. She sighed contentedly, her traumatic flashback now forgotten.  
  
Amy felt the Doctor lay back beside her, and heard his own sigh exhale. She rolled her head over towards him and peeped out from under her arm. He looked back at her, grinning, mirroring her pose, an arm flung across his own face. Grinning back, Amy swapped arms, reaching out for his free hand with her own.  
  
“Thank you,” she said, lifting his hand towards her, and kissing it softly, before bringing it across to her chest, where she held it tightly.  
  
They drifted off to sleep in the warmth, the distant roar of the falls in their ears, and the gentle rhythm of Amy’s heartbeat beneath the Doctor’s fingers.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a spreading warmth that awoke Amy from her sleep. She could feel a tingling heat that seemed to be surrounding her, although in her half-confused state as she regained consciousness, she couldn’t quite place it’s source.  
  
She opened her eyes, the sun having moved around in the sky so that she was able to focus on the atmosphere above her, which was much more intensely blue than she remembered it being when they landed, the faint smudges of pale pink cloud hanging so vividly against the backdrop of sky that they looked close enough to touch.  
  
Amy blinked, and took a deep breath, only to gasp in confusion. Her mind was suddenly flooded with a thousand different scents, most of them unfamiliar, as her nose drew in the air around her. She tried to sit, but realized she was pinned down; the Doctor had rolled over towards her in his sleep, the hand she’d held to her now holding her waist as his arm lay across her. She realised then that the spreading warmth that had roused her had been from the closeness of his body.   
  
She lay her head back down, her hair now dry from the heat of the sun. It occurred to her now that he had probably asked her not to dry it as he’d intended for them to spend the day right by the falls, and the air would have been damp. She guessed he’d travelled with enough women to understand their problem with humidity.   
  
The grass around them waved softly as an almost imperceptible breeze ran a caressing breath across her skin. Amy carefully turned onto her side to face the Doctor, copying his pose of head in the crook of his arm as a makeshift pillow. They were close enough that their elbows were touching, and his other arm moved in his sleep to hold her waist more tightly as she turned.  
  
After a few more breaths, Amy realised that some of the heady mix of scent around her was coming from the Doctor. They’d been in close proximity before, indeed, they’d even kissed, but it hadn’t been something she’d been able to savour at the time, and she was aware that as things happened so fast around them, she’d never really taken the time to closely study her friend. The scent wasn’t something she could put a name to; she wasn’t sure if it was his own smell, or whether it was something he’d bathed with, or deliberately applied. But it was delicious. And comforting.  
  
She looked closely at him, his own hair was now dry, and the tiny breeze was playing with it. His hair was very thick and full, and she’d not noticed before that it seemed to defy gravity in certain places. The breeze teased some strands from behind his ear, leaving them across his eyes; even though they were closed, Amy reflexively reached out her fingers to brush them away from his eyelids.   
  
Her touch disturbed the Doctor, his brow furrowing momentarily, and his arm tightened around her. She stilled her fingers until he settled again with a sigh, and then slowly brought them down around the side of his face, tracing the line of his cheekbone without touching, then doubling back and following the strong curve of his jaw, her fingers bolder this time, lightly brushing the tiny downy golden hairs that covered his cheek, thrown into relief by the angle of the sunlight.   
  
Once more her touch pricked his subconscious, and this time, the twitching of his brow was followed by the flick of his tongue, as it slid out to moisten the length of his upper lip. Amy’s fingers followed a path down around his chin, gently biting her own lip as she considered her next move. His lips were relaxed, but there was a tiny curve to the uppermost edge, almost a smile.   
  
She exhaled slowly, her lungs feeling just about back to normal now, and slid her hand up behind the Doctor’s head, burying her fingers in the softness of his hair, rolling forward gently to kiss him.


	4. Chapter 4

“Amy...”  
  
The Doctor gingerly took hold of her shoulders and gently shook her. She let out a throaty moan.  
  
“Amy…”  
  
She moaned again, in a most disconcerting way, as he stood with his hands hovering over her, fingers waggling, unsure which bit of her to try shaking next,  if anything at all. He finally settled on taking her pulse at her wrist, which was entirely unnecessary, as he’d already checked her vital signs. He finished with her wrist and placed it on her stomach, his hand lingering on hers. He leaned in towards her.  
  
“Amy… can you hear me?”  
  
She grabbed hold of his hand with her other one, and let out a shuddering sigh. The Doctor extracted his hand from her grasp, and wandered around the medibay, picking things up and putting them down again. He approached her one last time.  
  
“Amy, it’s the Doctor, I need you to wake up now...”   
  
Her eyes opened briefly, pupils like saucers, but then they closed again slowly, and she let out a small whimper.  
  
He ran a hand through his hair, which was even more unruly than usual after drying untamed in the sun. He exhaled slowly, puffing out his cheeks and leant against the examination couch, drumming his fingers on the side as he thought.  
  
Amy was perfectly healthy, the atmosphere around the Chalice had done exactly what he had hoped. But there was something not right in her head, and he replayed what happened in his mind, hoping to find a clue.  
  
They’d both fallen asleep on the cliffs near the Chalice; and then he’d been woken, by Amy’s lips.   
  
As ways to wake up, a gentle but thorough snogging from Amy Pond had to rate high on anyone’s list. Being half asleep, it had taken him what he hoped hadn’t been _too_ unreasonable an amount of time to put a stop to it. Once he’d got her safely at arms length, he could see that she looked rather intoxicated. They hadn’t indulged in anything that could have caused her to get in that state, so he’d surmised it must be something in the air.   
  
On the way back to the TARDIS, the protesting Amy had backed him up against a tree several times en route, and she’d seemed singularly determined to remove his shirt.  
  
As flattering as her insistence had been, taking advantage of her abnormal mental state was an uncomfortable prospect. And so for the second time in twenty-four hours, he’d found himself carrying Amy to the medibay.  
  
She lay on the examination bed, softly panting, having lost consciousness shortly after their arrival in the room. And those _noises_ she made; every time he spoke to her, _touched_ her…  
  
The Doctor pushed himself away from the examination couch excitedly. He rummaged around in a storage locker until he found a small device, which he placed on Amy’s forehead. It hummed softly, rows of lights twinkling, his eyebrows raising with the rapidly increasing reading. Nothing serious as such.  
  
There was nothing to be done except let her sleep it off. He removed the device and swept a stray lock of hair from her face. She sighed, subconsciously leaning her head towards his touch. He left the medibay, determined to find something with which to distract himself from the memory of that kiss.  
  
*  
It was a confused and somewhat sheepish looking Amy that later made her way to the console room in search of the Doctor. He was leant over the console, gazing intently at a monitor, a broad smile and a quirked eyebrow greeting her as he looked up.  
  
“Back with us so soon, you’re quite the medical anomaly,” he left the controls and crossed to where Amy stood propping up the doorway, a slightly hungover look about her.  
  
“What happened? I feel absolutely dreadful,” she ran a hand through her hair, licking her dry lips.  
  
The Doctor thrust one hand deep into his front trouser pocket, scratching his head with the other.  
  
“Well, the long answer is, you seem to have an abnormally receptive hypothalamus. The effects of the particles present in the Chalice water, coupled with the lingering effects of smoke inhalation, caused you to become overly sensitized to your surroundings. This set off a neural overload that was eventually compensated by complete systemic shutdown.” He finished, looking at Amy earnestly. She groaned.  
  
“And the short answer?”  
  
The Doctor looked at her, brows furrowed.  
  
“Actually, no, that _was_ the short answer. Sorry.”   
  
Amy sighed.  
  
“OK, well how about the picture book edition for us normal people?”  
  
“Right!” Exclaimed the Doctor, turning sharply on the spot then spinning back to face Amy.  
  
“Well, I took you to the Chalice because it has the most marvelous cleansing abilities. All very technical, but basically, the exchange of certain particles present in the water with those in the body promote healing. That and it’s a really nice place to be of course.” He stopped, checking that Amy hadn’t lost interest. She stifled a yawn.  
  
“Okay... even _shorter_ version then.” He paced around for a few steps, before returning to the spot in front of her, his hands speaking with him.  
  
“There’s a bit of your brain, Amy, that enjoyed the water vapour a bit too much. It made you... um, _receptive_ to certain stimuli.”  
  
“Is there any danger of you giving me a straight answer?” Amy was starting to pout, and that was never good, no matter how pretty it was on her.  
  
“You sort of got drunk on it. And did some t _hings_.” He started a subtle retreat towards the console.  
  
“What things, what did I do? I don’t remember anything except falling asleep on the grass…” Amy left the safe support of the doorway and followed the Doctor across the room.  
  
“Just… _things_. So where to now? I think I still owe you a nice time somewhere…” he bent over the console, pushing buttons and flipping switches, but when he looked round, Amy was right up beside him.  
  
“What sort of things?” She reached out and grabbed hold of one of his braces.  
  
He swallowed.  
  
“Just… _things_. Just the kind of things people do when they’re under the influence…” The Doctor looked down at her hand, closing his eyes against the inevitability, as she let go of the elastic, snapping it back against his chest.  
  
“Ow! Was that _really_ necessary…?” He rubbed his chest.  
  
Amy’s brow furrowed suddenly, and she put a hand to her temple; she had a vague recollection…  
  
“Did I _kiss_ you?” Amy grabbed for the brace again, but he clapped his hands over both straps protectively.  
  
“You might have. A little bit. _Maybe_. Not much.” The Doctor clutched his braces more tightly.  
  
Amy’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O’.  
  
“But I didn’t mind. I mean, it wasn’t a _bad_ thing. You couldn’t help yourself.” The Doctor subtly took a step back away from her. Clearly she needed more time to get her head around it all.  
  
“I couldn’t hel-…? What?” Amy’s face was a mask of indignance. The Doctor chuckled nervously.  
  
“Anyway… thought we might check out somewhere a bit more fun,” he turned to the console, flipping switches. “There’s this really nice floating restaurant on –“  
  
He was cut off mid-sentence by Amy’s mouth. Having taken him by surprise, she managed to spin him round and pin him back over the console, his arms waving behind her ineffectually as he wasn’t sure what to do. Her hands had grabbed his face, holding it still as she kissed him intently, ending it by catching his lower lip between her teeth and pulling back slowly.  
  
She held on to him a moment longer, her eyes roaming his face before letting him go and turning away.  
  
“Right, well. That’s me sorted. I’m going for a cup of tea.”   
  
And with that, Amy Pond strode from the console room, leaving a bewildered Doctor in her wake; a Doctor who was now wondering; just which one of them would bear the most lasting effects, from the planet they now left behind.


End file.
